give someone grey hair
To give someone great frustration, confusion, or anxiousness.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“My kids give me grey hair when they play near the road.”
“This broken computer gives me grey hair every time I try to work.”
“The constant delays in this project are really starting to give me grey hair.”
“Learning to navigate the city's complicated new tax system is enough to give anyone grey hair.”
“Waiting for the results of my medical tests for three weeks is truly giving me grey hair.”
“Trying to plan a wedding for two hundred guests on a tiny budget is giving the young couple grey hair.”
“Managing a team of disorganized interns during the busy season will surely give me grey hair before the year is out.”
first recorded 21st c.
The phrase is rooted in the folk belief that extreme stress accelerates the loss of hair pigment. This perceived link between anxiety and biology remained without empirical evidence until January 2020, when a study published in the journal Nature demonstrated that acute stress could indeed induce greying in mice. The idiom persists as a figurative attribution of one's follicular decline to the conduct of others.
- 01
as if someone owns the place
Alternative form of like someone owns the place.
- 02
bad hair day
A day when things seem to be unmanageable or go wrong.
- 03
barnet
[Cockney slang]hair
- 04
beat someone round the ears
To beat (a person) with blows about the head.
- 05
bless someone with
To give or bestow, as a gift from God.
- 06
bring someone to their knees
To defeat and make submit to orders.
- 07
call someone every name in the book
To call someone many abusive names.
- 08
call someone everything but a child of God
To call someone many abusive names.
Last updated August 10, 2026